Attorney General Alan Wilson announces drug dealer sentenced to life in the “Devil in Disguise” State Grand Jury investigation

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced today that Gerald Lee Whitner was convicted on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, by a Greenville County jury in the “Devil in Disguise” State Grand Jury investigation. Whitner was convicted of Trafficking Fentanyl, 28 Grams or More (Conspiracy); Trafficking Cocaine, 400 Grams or More; Trafficking Fentanyl, 28 Grams or More; and Trafficking Methamphetamine, 28 Grams or More, But Less Than 100 Grams. Whitner had been previously served Notice of Intent to Seek Life Without Parole due to his prior criminal history of drug dealing and drug trafficking. Following the trial, Judge R.S. Sprouse imposed on Whitner the mandatory life sentence.

“Fentanyl trafficking kills our citizens – plain and simple – and methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking spreads poison throughout our communities,” Attorney General Wilson said. “We will do everything we can to protect our communities from these lifelong drug dealers,” he added.

The defendant was a major drug supplier in the drug trafficking organization who managed to evade law enforcement during much of the investigation. However, on December 22, 2023, law enforcement observed Whitner going to his “stash” house at 58 Moore Street in Greenville County. On December 29, 2023, a search warrant was executed at the address where drug analysis confirmed that at least 1,483 grams of cocaine, 80.18 grams of fentanyl, and 52.08 grams of methamphetamine were located. 

Evidence submitted at trial included testimony from co-defendant witnesses, testimony from Whitner’s cocaine supplier, phone communications showing drug dealing, and physical evidence such as the drugs themselves, pictures of the crime scene, a key belonging to Whitner that accessed 58 Moore Street, and Whitner’s fingerprint on a grocery bag containing 480 grams of cocaine.      

Jury selection was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon for a second trial. However, both of those defendants, Jerry Eugene Drummond and Steven Dupree Blakely, pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to Trafficking Fentanyl, 4-14 Grams (Conspiracy) and Trafficking Fentanyl, 4-14 Grams. They were sentenced to 15 years. 

“Thanks to the efforts of the State Grand Jury Section and our law enforcement partners, a fentanyl drug trafficker is off the streets for good,” State Grand Jury Section chief attorney S. Creighton Waters said. Multiple overdose deaths have been associated with the drugs sold in the Devil in Disguise case, Waters added.  

Assistant Attorney General Savanna Goude led the prosecution with assistance from Assistant Attorney General Walt Whitmire and paralegal Sara Bobert. The case was investigated by the South Carolina State Grand Jury, which was assisted in this case by a partnership of the Attorney General’s State Grand Jury Division, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, South Carolina National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, Greenville County Coroner’s Office, Pickens County Coroner’s Office, Easley Police Department, Pickens Police Department, and Greenville Police Department, Traveler’s Rest Police Department, and the Greer Police Department.